James F. Moriarty - Career

Career

Prior to this assignment, Mr. Moriarty served as U.S. Ambassador to Nepal between 2004 and 2007. Before moving to Nepal, Ambassador Moriarty served in 2002–2004 as Special Assistant to the President of the United States of America and Senior Director at the National Security Council. He was responsible for advising on and coordinating U.S. policy on East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific region. Ambassador Moriarty also worked in the White House in 2001–2002 as National Security Council Director for China Affairs.

In 1998–2001, Ambassador Moriarty served as Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. In 1994–1998, he led the General Affairs (Political) Section at the American Institute in Taiwan. Ambassador Moriarty shaped the U.S. response to Chinese missile tests in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, and the ramming of a U.S. EP-3 plane off China’s Hainan Island. In these jobs and at the National Security Council, Ambassador Moriarty helped lay the groundwork for U.S.-China policy for the 21st century.

As Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of United Nations (UN) Political Affairs in 1991–93, Ambassador Moriarty coordinated U.S. policy on UN Security Council issues. He received the American Foreign Service Association’s Rivkin Award for his principled approach to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Ambassador Moriarty was Diplomat-in-Resident at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1993–94. Earlier assignments in his career included postings at the U.S. Embassies in Pakistan, Swaziland, and Morocco, additional tours in Beijing and Taipei, and work on African issues at the U.S. Department of State. He joined the Foreign Service in 1975.